New Delhi: In the ongoing face-off over the Indo-US nuclear deal, a meeting of the United Progressive Alliance (UPA) leaders will be held in Delhi on Sunday to decide ways and means to tackle the situation, which has caused a crisis for the three-year-old government.
Prime Minister Manmohan Singh will meet all the UPA allies at his residence on Sunday evening.
The meeting is part of the consultations the top Congress leadership has initiated with allies to find a way out of the sticky situation.
The Left, on Saturday had stopped short of withdrawing support to the UPA Government. Instead they had issued an ultimatum on the deal and warned of “serious consequences” if its concerns are not addressed.
Soon after the Left ultimatum, a core group of the Congress including Prime Minister Manmohan Singh and party chief Sonia Gandhi met on Saturday.
After the meet, some senior leaders including External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee and Defence Minister A K Antony had held consolations with RJD supremo Lalu Prasad while Sonia spoke to some of the allies over the phone following threats by the CPI-M.
While most of UPA allies including the Dravida Munnettra Kazhagam (DMK) assured Sonia Gandhi of their continued support, Nationalist Congress Party (NCP) leader Sharad Pawar refused to comment.
“I don’t want to comment right now. We will decide our stand after our meeting with my party colleagues,” said Pawar.
Meanwhile, Pranab Mukherjee has been instructed to speak to the Left leaders and tell them that the negotiations with the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA) will continue and the UPA would address all the concerns raised by the Red Brigade.
The four Left parties – CPI-M, CPI, RSP and Forward Bloc - who are extending crucial outside support to the UPA coalition have virtually put the government on notice with the demand that further action on implementation of the 123 agreement, including talks with IAEA and NSG, should not be taken up.
In a press conference on Saturday evening, CPI-M General Secretary and Politburo member Prakash Karat had warned the UPA government that the nuclear deal entered into with USA is "unacceptable" in its present form.
"The Politburo of the CPI-M has not endorsed the stand on nuclear cooperation," Karat had said adding that going ahead with the nuclear deal would not serve India's interest.
(With inputs from Agencies)
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